RPB TO DISCUSS TREE ‘HAT-RACKING’ SEE STORY, PAGE 4
ORCHARD HILL WINS U.S. OPEN AT IPC SEE STORY, PAGE 7
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RPB Cultural Diversity Day Returning To Veterans Park May 7
Volume 37, Number 18 April 29 - May 5, 2016
Serving Palms West Since 1980
OUTRUN CEREBRAL PALSY 5K RACE
On Saturday, May 7, Veterans Park in Royal Palm Beach will be the place to be for fun, food, dancing, entertainment and, most importantly, learning about and celebrating different cultures. Caribbean-Americans for Community Involvement (CAFCI) has teamed up with the Village of Royal Palm Beach once again to hold the annual Cultural Diversity Day, a free community event. Page 3
The Outrun Cerebral Palsy Wellington 5K Run & Wheelchair Race was held Sunday, April 24 at the Wellington Amphitheater with 250 runners and 16 riders doing their first 5K. The event, which raised $25,000, was presented by the Great Charity Challenge, the Rotary Club of Wellington and United Cerebral Palsy of South Florida. Shown here, the wheelchair race gets underway. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 9
Volunteers Gather To Clean Wellington’s Goldenrod Neighborhood
The Village of Wellington held a Great American Cleanup project on Saturday, April 23 near the Goldenrod neighborhood. After a morning of hard work, the volunteers enjoyed lunch at Goldenrod Park. Page 5
High School Students Volunteer To Keep Royal Palm Beach Clean
Royal Palm Beach High School students took part in the Great American Cleanup on Saturday, April 23. More than 300 students met at the Royal Palm Beach Recreation Center to join in. Page 6
OPINION Prince’s Death Is A Reminder For All About The Fragility Of Life
Last week, the music-loving world was stunned by news of the sudden passing of Prince Rogers Nelson, better known by just his first name — the Minneapolis-raised musical genius who recorded hits such as “Raspberry Beret,” “1999” and “When Doves Cry.” While his death at the young age of 57 is still surrounded by mystery, the circumstances offer some wider lessons for us all — especially about the dangers of dying without a will. Page 4
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RPB Council OKs Commons Park Amphitheater Design
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Royal Palm Beach Village Council approved the design for an amphitheater at Royal Palm Beach Commons Park last week, with direction to pay special attention to sound control outside the park. At the April 21 meeting, residents on nearby Sandpiper Avenue presented a petition to reduce the allowed noise level and number of live events. REG Architects was contracted in January to come up with a design for the planned amphitheater. Prior to discussion of the designs, Sandpiper Avenue residents Libby and Earl Brannan presented a petition with 119 signatures from people living around the park asking to reduce the level and tone of the sound coming from the park. Brannan, who had a doctor’s letter verifying that he had a disability that rendered him unable to tolerate loud noise, said he has to stay in a hotel when the park hosts concerts. “We believe that the loud noise at a multitude of events held by the village are an invasion of our property rights to a peaceful community,” Libby Brannan said. “Our request is to reduce the noise
and the number of loud events.” Earl Brannan said he bought his home 20 years ago and had been happy there, until the events started at the park. “I thought the community had some class, but in the past few years, the class has gone down badly,” he said. “There are people, not only myself, who are sick of the noise. The simple thing would be to turn the noise down.” Councilman David Swift empathized with those who do not like the loud music, especially on band nights and during the four large events held there. “I didn’t realize the scope of it,” Swift said. “On the Fourth of July, we have 10,000 people show up. The problem with WestFest is it’s all country rock. To me, it’s loud bass that we’re having trouble controlling. In contrast, I have people on the same block right behind who really love the events and get their chairs and sit out back and enjoy it.” Swift said the question with the amphitheater was whether the village would be able to control the sound better by using a permanent structure. “I think we need to understand the level of sound and what we’re talking about,” Swift
said, adding that he would be willing to eliminate the Friday night bands, at least until they get the new amphitheater in place. “If we’re going to spend a lot of money on this amphitheater, we’d better get that part right,” Mayor Fred Pinto said. “One of the ways to address this is turning the volume down. I’m serious about that; even the big events.” Village Manager Ray Liggins said the amphitheater discussion would include sound control. “In the meantime, we can turn it down,” he said. The council authorized contracting REG Architects to design the amphitheater at a cost of no more than $114,570 after more discussion about sound control. Council members chose the second of two floor plans, which included a more solid structural design, as opposed to a design with a tensile overhang. Village Engineer Chris Marsh noted that the village has invested more than $22 million in the park, which opened in 2013. The council approved adding the amphitheater in 2014. For the amphitheater project, the village has accumulated $381,500 in grant money. REG President Rick Gonzalez See NOISE, page 7
Jan Rodusky Prepared For New Role On RPB Council
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report After a break in civic involvement to raise her children, newly appointed Royal Palm Beach Councilwoman Jan Rodusky said she is prepared and eager to take on her new role. On April 7, the four existing members of the Royal Palm Beach Village Council selected Rodusky in their third round of balloting to fill Seat 4, vacated by Fred Pinto upon his election as mayor. “I really love the Village of Royal Palm Beach,” Rodusky told the Town-Crier on Wednesday. “I have been in the community for 20 years, and sat on the Recreation Advisory Board for four years, and got off when my kids were really little in the early days of living in the village, and that kind of took front seat. Now, they’re old enough that they don’t need me as much, so it was good timing.” Rodusky believes that the vil-
lage is on the right track. She noted that she has done her homework, including researching the village’s strategic plan, which she mentioned in her application. “I think we’re financially strong, the government is run efficiently, and I think the next 10, 15 or 30 years is really marching to the beat of the strategic plan,” she said. “I think that smart growth is important to the residents, and that’s what encouraged me to get involved.” Rodusky took part in the strategic plan meeting held a few weeks ago led by consultant Lyle Sumek. “It was a public meeting, and the village has been doing the strategic plan for several years now with the same consultant,” she said. “It’s a very methodical, well-thought-out plan in which we go through, ‘Here’s what we did last year. What are the priorities? What are the opportunities? What are the strengths and weaknesses?’
Jan Rodusky We go through each section of the strategic plan and really refine what’s going to happen over the next year. As a result, we now have the feedback, which we will take to the residents’ summit next week.” That meeting is set for Tuesday, See RODUSKY, page 18
Wellington Council Approves Rental Rates For The New Community Center
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Wellington Village Council on Tuesday approved rental rates for the new Wellington Community Center scheduled to open in August, balancing consideration for local residents with it being a new, more desirable facility. The council also heard reports from Village Manager Paul Schofield about the tennis program moving in-house, as well as plans to streamline the approval process for building applicants. Council members agonized over rental rates for the major event rooms at the community center, which were proposed to go up for
residents and down for nonresidents. Staff members explained that the intent was to override a practice in the past where nonresidents would find a Wellington resident to sign the contract in order to avoid the higher fee. The nonresident rate was set at twice the resident rate. Parks & Recreation Director Bruce DeLaney said that his staff had derived the proposed fees by comparing the rates of surrounding municipalities, and factoring in that it was a new facility. “We developed a rate based upon vetting what the surrounding municipal types of facilities See RENTAL RATE, page 7
SWEET CORN FIESTA
The 16th annual Sweet Corn Fiesta was held Sunday, April 24 in Yesteryear Village at the South Florida Fairgrounds. There were amateur corn shucking and corn eating contests for all ages, but the main event was the Major League Eating & International Federation of Competitive Eaters Sweet Corn Eating Contest. Shown here is National Sweet Corn Eating Champion Yasir Salem with event organizer Ann Holt. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 11 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Wellington Parc Gets Extension, But Still No Connection
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Wellington Village Council on Tuesday approved a master plan buildout extension for the Wellington Parc project on the west side of State Road 7, without its planned connection to the adjacent Palomino Park development. The connection will remain barricaded to vehicular traffic. Wellington Parc, located about a mile south of Forest Hill Blvd., was originally approved in 2006. Growth Management Director Robert Basehart said that the application was to approve a new traffic analysis to comply with county traffic standards, which apply to all developments regardless of whether they are in an incorporated area. “One of the requirements is that… you do your analysis from the current time to the proposed buildout date of the project to demonstrate that traffic will per-
form adequately,” Basehart said, noting that the new buildout date will be 2020. The original buildout date was 2011. In 2011, an extension was granted to 2015, when the applicant submitted a request for a statemandated automatic extension. The project was approved for 94 townhouses, all of which have been built, and about 32,000 square feet of office space. The infrastructure for the commercial portion has been put in, but the buildings have not been constructed. “They have prepared a new analysis that demonstrates that if this project were coming in today, it could comply with the traffic performance standards,” Basehart said. Staff recommended approval of the extension, with conditions reduced from 17 in the original approval down to eight, eliminating See PARC, page 18
Jim Sackett Softball Tourney Helps Children In Need
By Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report Friends of Foster Children plays a critical role in helping the approximately 1,700 foster children in Palm Beach County. Next weekend, the entire community will have the opportunity to embrace these kids by taking part in the Jim Sackett Invitational Celebrity Softball Tournament. “If you want to come out and see some good softball, come on out Saturday, May 7 to Okeeheelee Park. The first game starts at 7:45 a.m., and the games go on all day,” said Wellington resident and retired news anchor Jim Sackett, who sits on the board of the
Friends of Foster Children. “One of our board members knew that I really loved to play softball, and still do, and she just kind of threw it out there one board meeting: ‘Why don’t we just have a softball tournament and you can invite teams?’ That was the genesis of the whole thing.” Since then, the event has been getting bigger and better each year. As of this week, 22 teams are signed up to participate. Sackett said that so many teams, playing for a nonprofit fundraiser, coming together for one day is unusual. “It’s an opportunity for guys who like to play softball to come out, enjoy themselves and raise
money for a good cause,” Sackett said. Sackett will be playing on the Golden Clippers, a 65-and-older team. The tournament is divided into three age groups: 50s, 60s and 65 and up. The age groups will be kept together as they play on the four fields at Okeeheelee Park. Seeing old friends, many of whom he hasn’t seen for an entire year, is one of the things Sackett is looking forward to. Many of the same teams come back year after year. At the end of the day, knowing that the money raised will be going to Friends of Foster Children is important to Sackett. Though the tournament is
named in Sackett’s honor, it really is all about helping the children. “It has had such an impact,” said Coleen LaCosta, director of development for Friends of Foster Children. “It generates community awareness.” When Sackett was the news anchor at WPTV-News Channel 5, he would feature children who needed to be adopted. “He has always been involved and passionate about helping our kids who are suffering, and getting them services and homes. He’s incredible,” LaCosta said of Sackett. “It brings further awareness to people who may or may not have ever thought about the fact
that there are these kids in Palm Beach County.” Friends of Foster Children provides services to children in out-of-home care, in foster homes, placement homes or group homes. There are activities, emergency bags, clothing, tutoring, and enrichment such as prom dresses and safety patrol trips. “When they move, the emergency bags help the children who don’t have anything,” LaCosta said. The group conducts special events and hosts picnics, including visits to the South Florida Fair, all of which are done through community donations. Help from the See SACKETT, page 4